‘Cool Japan’ Musashino Reiwa Shrine – Saitama’s newest shrine

General and event information for the ‘Cool Japan’ Musashino Reiwa Shrine. Musashino Reiwa Shrine is located in Tokorozawa Sakura Town, a hip entertainment hub, on the border of Tokyo.

Musashino Reiwa Shrine

The Musashino Reiwa Shrine, dubbed the Cool Japan shrine, was designed, under the supervision of Kengo Kuma, as part of the Cool Japan project. There are many unique elements to the shrine, but the design is the most striking. The building reminds me greatly of a kabuto helmet. The interior is also stunning with a magnificent painting of a phoenix, the Kadokawa logo, by Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy fame) on the ceiling. (Pictured above).

It is a contemporary shrine of modern design, but is dedicated to two of the most famous and significant characters of ancient Japanese folklore. They are the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, and her younger brother: Susanoo-no-Mikoto. In addition, the shrine is significant as the first stop, of 88, on the fashionable “anime 88 pilgrimage”. Apart from being a place of worship, the shrine aims to support and facilitate activities at Sakura town, successfully and safely.

Fortune telling torii

One of the coolest features of the shrine, in my humble opinion, is its torii. They illuminate the torii at night. The colors change when you walk through the torii. Moreover, the color tells your fortune:

• White: Increases financial luck
• Light blue: Improves study/work luck
• Yellow-green: Improves health luck
• Purple: Increases travel luck
• Red: an increase in your luck overall
• Pink: Increases luck in love

Furthermore, in summer the torii blows cool mist. In 2024, the cool mist will be on from Wednesday July 17th to Sunday October 6th.

Events at Musashino Reiwa Shrine

From Saturday December 27th 2025 to Thursday 8th January 2026 they will have a New Year ‘hanachozu’, the water font for cleansing your hands (and rinsing your mouth before the pandemic) before praying. You can see a hanachozu from a previous year in the first three photos above. Those photos were taken in June 2024 when they had an hydrangea hanachozu. Which is on each year in summer. Another seasonal hanachozu is for Halloween. In 2026, that is from Friday October 23rd to public Tuesday November 3rd.

Each year, they also have a special hanachozu at New Year as well as three meter tall Kadomatsu. A Kadomatsu is a decoration for New Year, pictured below, on display during the same period. It is one of three New Year photo spots at the temple / Sakura Town. In 2026 they will be on display from Saturday December 27th 2025 to public holiday Monday January 13th 2026. Please see the guide to Tokorozawa Sakura Town for other New Year events.

Setsubun

Information for 2026 not yet available. In the past they have had a setsubun festival at the shrine. In fact, I originally wrote this post to introduce that event. However, in 2025, while they are having an event, they are charging 2000 yen to participate. You may be able to see an oni on the grounds that day though! But at the moment as I update this post on January 28th 2025, there is no free event currently scheduled. The photo below is from 2023.

Ongoing events at Tokorozawa Sakura Town

• You can see information for the current (or upcoming) exhibition at Grand Gallery here.
• Information for the current / upcoming exhibition at the EJ Anime Museum here.
• The current / upcoming exhibition at Edit and Art Gallery.
• Weekend events at Sakura Town

Tokorozawa Sakura Town

Tokorozawa Sakura Town has shops, restaurants, museum and galleries, a factory, offices, a public open space, event space and this shrine.

A summary of what’s available:

• Kadokawa Culture Museum including a Grand Gallery, Bookshelf Theater , Anime Museum and smaller galleries and facilities.
• Kadokawa Restaurant
• Musashino Jurin Cafe
• Da Vinci Store

Unfortunately, the Team Lab closed down in January 2024. Here is just a small sample of things you can do in the area, in the cities of Tokorozawa / Sayama.

Information

Venue: Musashino Reiwa Shrine, Tokorozawa Sakura Town (see map at bottom of post), 3 Chome 3-3 Higashitokorozawawada,Tokorozawa, Saitama 〒359-0023

Hours: 9 am to 4.30 pm, but the precincts are open 24 hours.

Access

Tokorozawa Sakura Town is a ten minute walk from JR Musashino Line’s Higashi Tokorozawa Station. By car, the entertainment town is about 3.6 kilometers from the Kanetsu expressway. Parking costs 200 yen per half hour. The first half hour is free.

The phoenix on the ceiling photo and the Kadokawa photo are from the official website for Sakura town. All the rest of the photos are my own and not for reuse without permission. The official website for the shrine.

Find even more cool events and news for Saitama check the events category.